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scheduling, directories, messaging, “contact me” preferences, medical devices and critical test results. Smartphones aside, there are many other types of devices being used in hospitals today. Tablets, Wi-Fi phones, voice badges, pagers, desk phones and more – every role seems to have a diff erent type of device. Without fl exible, easy-to-use management solutions, new technologies will lead to mayhem. T ankfully, there are solutions available to aggregate all the systems an organization can assemble for better healthcare and then deliver information quickly, accurately and securely to the right person on the device he or she has chosen. T ere are two big challenges with this:

1. Managing security across the healthcare enterprise; and 2. Providing an audit trail to show how communications related to a patient’s care or an organization’s response to medical alerts are managed.

Secure communications are an absolute requirement. A

recent Ponemon Institute study found a 32 percent increase in the frequency of data breaches in hospitals surveyed. Sur- prisingly, only half of those surveyed took measures to secure protected health information on mobile devices. T e study reports an estimated average cost of $2.4 million per data breach. It’s not a simple issue: T e transmission of messages must be secure, and the information must remain safe once it’s on the device. With few exceptions, the communication devices them-

selves don’t have built-in security; it’s left to organizations to ensure protection of electronic protected health information (ePHI) in accordance with guidelines from HIPAA and the HITECH Act. T is includes a variety of security features, including encryption, application lock, automated message removal and password-protected inboxes. Administrators should also be able to complete a remote device wipe to remove messages from a device that has been lost or stolen. Audit trails and traceability are key attributes of a robust mobile communications solution; regulatory requirements call

for the ability to trace the entire chain of messages related to a specifi c case or incident. A 2010 study determined that $91 million in malpractice awards that year were due to failure of physicians and patients to receive results, delays in report fi ndings and lengthy turnaround times. With leading solutions, a delivery receipt is sent back to the sender as soon as a message arrives. Recipients then have the abil- ity to actively acknowledge or ignore the message, which is also transmitted back to the sender. In addition to acknowledgement, users can respond to a message using free-form text or templates. Responses are kept with the original message in system log fi les for continuity purposes. Administrators also need a full audit trail, including the ability to run reports on the timing of message delivery and how quickly receipts were returned from each user. T is ensures messages are read in a timely fashion. When planning your mobile communications strategy, here

are some top considerations: • T e system should be able to separate critical healthcare messages from less important emails and text messages.

• It should provide secure delivery of messages to en- crypted inboxes, as well as remote lockout and erasure of information.

• Automatic delivery receipts for messages should be part of any system; these enable accurate recordkeeping or even escalation of alerts to manage delivery of urgent communications.

• It should provide the ability for quick, active acknowl- edgement of message receipt and free-form text re- sponses, as well as template replies.

• T e solution should connect to many diff erent systems in the organization, such as directories, on-call schedul- ing, clinical alerts, critical test results and other alarms.